Saturday, June 1, 2013

Who's Next?

After four years as the Time Lord on the BBC One show, viewers will see Smith's Doctor regenerate in the 2013 Christmas special.

The 30-year-old actor said working on the show had been "the most brilliant experience".

Doctor Who marks its 50th anniversary in November with a special episode, which Smith has already filmed.

The BBC said Smith's "spectacular exit" was yet to be revealed and would be "kept tightly under wraps".

Oi, I'm rushed by events. I'd planned to write up a detailed post with a casting wishlist for Matt Smith's replacement to be out ahead of the change, but now I feel like I should throw up something to get me started in response to the not-exactly-shocking but unexpected news.

Technically, some sort of appreciation for Matt's performance should probably come first, but since we've still got the 50th anniversary and x-mas specials ahead, let's save that for after his run is properly done. He's done a great job and has a couple big opportunities to really put a bow (tie) on it.

Olivia Williams

Every regeneration prompts the speculation that we might see a female Doctor. I'm all for it. Olivia Williams has the acting chops to be an absolutely brilliant Doctor. She also has the genre cred having starred in Dollhouse.

She's got a couple movies in pre-production, but I'm hoping that doesn't mean she wouldn't have room for another commitment.

Peter Capaldi

Peter Capalidi would be a coup, in my book. He's got amazing range, can be as vulnerable as a bunny rabbit, pant-pissingly funny, or pant-wettingly vicious as the situation demands. There's plenty of precedence for actors moving on from guest roles to starring roles (Karen Gillan, Catherine Tate, Colin Baker, Nicholas Courtney) so he's got that guest-starring turn in "Fires of Pompeii" going for him.

I see he's going to be playing Cardinal Richelieu in an upcoming Three Musketeers series, but surely that wouldn't be enough to prevent this from happening?

Anthony Head

Like Capaldi, he's guest-starred already. He's got even more Whedonverse experiences than Olivia Williams. He was considered for the role of the Eighth Doctor, so he shouldn't be outside the realm of possibility. Like my other choices so far though, he's over 40 and one cynically supposes age will play against all of them now that Doctor Who is a hit with the younger crowd as well as those of us old enough to have watched the Classic Series as it was broadcast. (Funny to think that if they tried to cast Tennant now, he probably couldn't get the role either for the same reason. Or, maybe it's not so crazy to think they could cast a bit older again?)

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Back to the Whedonverse for this selection. Ejiofor also has genre cred from Children of Men. If I'm not mistaken, his name came up as a possibility for one of the previous incarnations during the New Series era. He did an episode of Canterbury Tales with John "The Master" Simm a while back, and Billie Piper had that series on her CV before joining Doctor Who, so there might be some connections there that could work to his favor.

These are probably actors that are already too famous to get the part. I knew Eccleston before his casting from Shallow Grave but would never have guessed he'd be a candidate, never mind the ace bit of casting he turned out to be. Tennant and Smith I had to google to find out what they'd done before, so I suspect that's what's going to happen again. Which, hey, they've done a fabulous job so far, so I'll just watch with interest to see what they do and not get bent out of shape my none of my picks are selected.

Update 1
Smack my head I can't believe I forgot, hadn't considered, or was simply unaware of these names:

Russel Brand (Daft manic intelligence!)

Gillian Anderson (I didn't realize she hails from London.)

Ruth Wilson (Talented actress with a slightly alien appearance.)

Tilda Swinton (As suggested by +Tom Ferguson -- the more I think about this, the more it occludes the possibility it could be anyone else!)

Sanjeev Bhaskar (Looked him up after seeing him suggested on a comment thread and after checking out some interviews and clips, he strikes me as having a balance of intelligence and humor that would suit the role perfectly.)

Angela Bassett (Another suggestion culled from the same thread as above. She won me over, permanently, in Strange Days. Like Swinton, and perhaps all the others, I wonder if she's already too famous to really be a consideration.)

Update 2
Somebody must have asked Sheikie for his opinion ...

Doctor Who gives a fuck
— The Iron Sheik (@the_ironsheik) June 2, 2013

About Me

Blogging primarily about Doctor Who while I watch (and re-watch) the entire series.

Sure, I could have chosen any number of other shows to bounce my interest in philosophy, history, progressive politics, secularism, and pop culture off; but, while others have burned brighter for periods of time, no other series has held my interest for so long. Nor is another likely to.